government investigation has gone cold, until a disturbing video clip appeared monday on the facebook page of supporters of syrian president bashar al assad. it had been posted on youtube six days ago. a word of warning. some viewers may find the following video upsetting. the shaky 46-second-long video shows austin tice as he's being led away. blindfolded and in broken a arabic, he recites portions of a prayer and then shows signs of distress. >> oh, jesus. >> reporter: the disturbing video was not released on any known extremistwebsites. the u.s. state department can't verify whether the man in the video is austin tice, but friends say the man featured is the 41-year-old former marine. they say the video may be staged, saying the clothing is native to afghanistan, not syria. >> it's almost as if someone watched tapings of men and fighters in afghanistan and tried to mimic their behavior, but did so in a very poor manner. >> reporter: before he vanished outside damascus, he had been reporting on the escalating violence in syria as a freelance journalist. >> fighters have prepared for